Method for Switching Communication Links to a Mobile Terminal Device Which is Associated with a Local Radio Area of a Network

ABSTRACT

A mobile terminal device determines whether it is located in the local radio area of the network or in another radio area and the determined radio area is indicated to an application of the network. The application is used to control a communication request addressed to the mobile terminal device. Communication requests coming in on the network can be directly switched to the local radio area using the application or can be directly forwarded to the mobile radio address in the mobile radio network of which the mobile terminal device is located, thereby avoiding or substantially reducing roaming or forwarding of communication requests from the local radio area to another radio area and thereby achieving an economical operation of mobile telephone terminal devices with local radio area.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/062,598, which is the United States nationalphase under 35 U.S.C. §371 of PCT International Application No.PCT/EP2009/006767, filed on Sep. 18, 2009, that claims priority toGerman National Application No. 10 2008 047 932.2 filed Sep. 19, 2008.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

Embodiments of the invention relate to calculation or reduction of feesfor roaming or forwarding of communications links.

2. Background of the Related Art

In mobile terminal device networks, especially telephone terminaldevices, or in mobile wireless networks, it increasingly common forlocal areas to be defined in which cheaper rates or fees are offered bythe network operators. The local area is usually identical to a localradio area, such that the local radio area corresponds to at least oneradio zone of a wireless network. The lowest rate applies as long as themobile telephone terminal device is located in that local radio network.Operators hope for greater use of mobile terminal devices through theoffered local radio areas or local areas, especially mobile wirelessterminal devices.

Low rates are often assigned to these local areas, especially forcommunication links within the local radio network and in fixednetworks. Flat rates are then offered to mobile wireless terminaldevices or their users, giving them unlimited telephone calling from andwithin the local area, generally to network addresses—which are usuallythe telephone numbers of fixed networks—in and from the fixed networks.The local area can be selected by the user of the mobile wirelessterminal device, primarily a local radio area in their place ofresidence.

A local radio area is a transmitter or base station with a radio areaassigned, over which the transmitter sends wireless signals in its radioarea with its recognition signal or transmitter recognition signal. If amobile wireless terminal device uses a transmitter with that recognitionsignal, then it is located in that local radio network. Because theradio areas of transmitters overlap, radio areas are not preciselydefined, and therefore mobile wireless network operators guarantee aminimum size of the local radio area.

If a communication request is signaled from the fixed network to themobile wireless terminal device with the network address of the fixednetwork, the signal is directed to its local radio area. However, if themobile wireless terminal device is not located in the local radio area,then roaming is initiated and the signal is forwarded from the localradio network to the local area in the mobile wireless network where themobile wireless terminal device is located at that time. This roaming orforwarding of a connection request from one local area to another localarea, or the signaling related to it, leads to higher fees, whichactually should be reduced by adjusting a local radio area.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The basis for the invention consists of reducing the fees for roaming orforwarding of requested communication links to the local radio networkof mobile terminal devices when the mobile terminal devices are notlocated in the local radio area.

The significant aspect of the method according to embodiments of theinvention is that the mobile terminal device determines whether it islocated in the local radio network or in another radio area, and themobile terminal device indicates the determined radio area to anapplication on the network. By means of the application, a communicationrequest addressed to the mobile terminal device through another networkis either directed to its local radio area or forwarded to the otherradio area, or the communication link is informed that the mobileterminal device is not located in the local radio area. The methodaccording to the invention is especially well suited for mobiletelephone terminal devices or mobile multimedia terminal devices andalso for mobile terminal devices in fixed networks.

A significant advantage of embodiments of the invention is that, bymeans of the network application, incoming communication requests to thelocal area are directly established or directly forwarded, with theaddress of a wireless network, to the wireless network where the mobileterminal device is located. This eliminates or significantly reducesroaming or forwarding of communication attempts from the local radioarea to another radio area, because using the network application,communication links with the network address of the other radio area aresent directly to the mobile terminal device, which is more efficientthan roaming controlled by the operator.

According to one embodiment of the invention, a local radio areadetected by the mobile terminal device or another mobile network signalsor transmits to the network application, and preferably thenetwork-specific terminal device protocol in networks with Internetprotocol is represented by the standardized Session Initial Protocol(SIP), wherein the signaling is effected by a register request producinganother contact parameter or a register request producing anotherparameter. This simple forwarding of the standardized SIP protocolallows the network application to be signaled or notified of thesignaling of the residence location of the mobile terminal device.

The mobile terminal devices can also use a JAVA application, forexample, to perform the functions according to the invention. In thiscase, mobile terminal devices can easily be retrofitted to work with themethod according to the invention.

Additional preferential developments of the invented method and onecommunication arrangement according to the invention can be found inother claims.

The following text further explains the invention and its developments,with reference to two drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 a block diagram showing a communication arrangement for executingthe method according to the invention, in which a mobile wirelessterminal device is located within a local radio area, and

FIG. 2 a communication arrangement as in FIG. 1, in which the mobilewireless terminal device is located outside of the local radio area.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a communicationarrangement in which the invented method is used, including onlycomponents in which the invented method is implemented or which arenecessary in order to clarify the invented method.

FIG. 1 shows an example for explaining the invention, consisting of tworadio zones or radio areas FB1, FB2 in a mobile wireless network MN,wherein the mobile wireless network MN includes multiple radio zones.The radio areas FB1, FB2 here are determined by the radio range of thebase stations or their transmitters in each mobile wireless network MNor other wireless network. The mobile wireless network MN can bearranged according to a GSM or UMTS standard, for example.

For this example it is assumed that one of the two radio areas FB1, FB2is assigned as the local radio area HFB—designated in FIG. 1 asHFB(FB1)—for the mobile terminal device ME. Local radio areas HFB areincreasingly offered by operators of mobile wireless networks MN,wherein lower rates apply for a mobile terminal device ME in its localradio area HFB than in the rest of the mobile wireless network MN. Lowerrates also apply for connections to and from the fixed network,especially the fixed telephone network. These lower rates apply as longas the mobile terminal device ME is located in this local radio areaHFB. If a mobile terminal device ME moves from the local radio area HFBto another radio area FB, then it is recognized by the respective basestations in the mobile wireless network MN and switched to the standardrates or fees for the mobile wireless network MN.

In this case, the local radio area HFB can assign a different address ortelephone number for the address or telephone number in the mobilewireless network MN. As an example, this can be the address or telephonenumber assigned to a subscriber on the mobile wireless network MN in thefixed network FN, if he is also subscribed to the fixed network FN.

FIG. 1 also shows a server S in which an application APPL is run,wherein the server S is connected to a communication system KS that isused, for example, by a company for handling fixed network connectionsand company-specific wireless connections. The communication system KScan manage connections to and from a fixed network FN, such as a fixedtelephone network PST, for example. The server S can also befunctionally integrated into the communication system KS as anapplication server or can be a functional component of the communicationsystem KS such that the server S can be reached through the mobilewireless network MN.

The server S can be part of the mobile wireless network MN and can bereached by each of the mobile terminal devices ME at least through itsservice data channel or a data channel of the mobile wireless networkMN. If the mobile terminal device ME is subscribed to a GPS mobilewireless network GSM, an SIP protocol (Session Initial Protocol) with adata or service channel is preferably used as the signaling channel, bymeans of which the mobile terminal device ME notifies the server S orthe application APPL of whether it is located in the local radio areaHFB or in another radio area FB2. If the mobile terminal device ME issubscribed to the UMTS mobile wireless network UMTS, the SIP protocol isalso used as the signaling protocol and can be used directly forreporting on the home area of the mobile terminal device ME.

The home area of the mobile terminal device ME is determined by anapplication A in the mobile terminal device ME. In this case, therespective radio area FB2 assigned as the local radio area HFB for themobile terminal device ME is entered into the application A. Forexample, the local radio area HFB is provided by means of a recognitionsignal through the base station or even multiple base stations—notshown—that provide wireless coverage for the local radio area HFB. Bycomparing the currently received recognition signal from the basestation(s) with the information assigned to the application A via thebase station(s) of the local radio area HFB, it is possible to determinewhether the mobile terminal device ME is located in its local radio areaHFB.

According to the invention, an extension of the standardized SIPprotocol SIP—in particular, RFC standard 3261—is to be used to reportthe home area of the mobile terminal device ME.

According to a first exemplary variation, the information that showswhere the mobile terminal device ME is located in the local radio areaHFB or in another radio area FB is transmitted to the server S by meansof an additional piece of information in the “contact” parametercontained in the Register Request Message.

The Register Request Message (RRM) is structured as follows:

REGISTER sips: ss2.biloxi.example.com SIP/2.0

-   Via:SIP/2.0/TLS client.biloxi.example.com:5061;-   branch=z9hG4bKnashds-   Max-Forward: 70-   From: Bob<sips:bob@biloxi.example>;tag=a73kszlfl-   To: Bob<sips:bob@biloxi.example.com>-   Call-ID: 1j9FpLxk3uxtm8tn@biloxi.example.com-   CSeq: 1 REGISTERED MAIL-   Contact: “Mr.Bob”-   <sips:bob@client.biloxi.example.com>; q=0, 7;-   Expires=3600; homezone=[IN,OUT]-   Content-Length: 0

As an alternative, for example, the Register Request Message (RRM)itself can be expanded as follows:

REGISTER sips: ss2.biloxi.example.com SIP/2.0

-   Via:SIP/2.0/TLS client.biloxi.example.com:5061; branch=z9hG4bKnashds-   Max-Forward: 70-   From: Bob<sips:bob@biloxi.example>;tag=a73kszlfl-   To: Bob<sips:bob@biloxi.example.com>-   Call-ID: 1j9FpLxk3uxtm8tn@biloxi.example.com-   CSeq: 1 REGISTERED MAIL-   Contact: “Mr.Bob”-   <sips:bob@client.biloxi.example.com>;q=0,7;-   Expires=3600;-   homezone=[IN,OUT]-   Content-Length: 0

Using the Register Request Message RRM, the mobile terminal device MEreports whether it is located in its local radio area HFB or is outsideof its local radio area HFB in another radio area FB of the mobilewireless network MN.

For this example, it is assumed that the mobile terminal device ME isfirst located in its local radio area HFB. According to the invention, aRegister Request Message RRM is generated and sent wirelessly throughthe mobile wireless network MN to the server S, wherein the RegisterRequest Message RRM shows, by means of a piece of information IN, thatit is located in its local radio area HFB, designated in FIG. 1 by anarrow marked with RRM(IN). In the server S, the information IN is storedin an application APPL and made available to the communication systemKS. The information IN is displayed by the communication system KS witha status indication within a Presence Service, i.e., using thisinformation IN, mobile terminal devices ME located in the local radioarea HFB can be incorporated into a service for preferred terminaldevices ME, which is done in the communication system KS (not shown).

Communication requests KV addressed to the mobile terminal device ME areforwarded directly with the address or telephone number of the localradio area HFB. This means that establishment of the connection orsession is directed or transmitted through the server S and thecommunication system KS, so therefore in the network with the address ortelephone number of the local radio area HFB, directly to the mobileterminal device ME, shown in FIG. 1 by dotted lines marked KV.

For this example, it is assumed that the mobile terminal device ME—shownas a shaded rectangle—is moved from the local radio area HFB to anotherradio area FB2, such as when the user of the mobile terminal device MEmoves to another location (see FIG. 2). After leaving the local radioarea HFB, this is recognized by the application A in the mobile terminaldevice ME, and a Register Request Message RRM is generated and sentwirelessly via the mobile wireless network MN to the server S, whereinthe Register Request Message RRM shows, by means of the information OUT,that it is not located in its local radio area HFB—shown in FIG. 1 hasan arrow marked RRM (OUT). In the server S, the information OUT isstored in the application APPL and made available to the communicationsystem KS. In this case, the information OUT from the communicationsystem KS is displayed with a status indication within a presenceservice (not shown).

Communication requests KV addressed to the mobile terminal device ME arenow no longer forwarded directly to the address or telephone number ofthe local radio area HFB. According to the invention, multiplevariations are possible for handling the communication request KV or theinitiated establishment of a connection.

One possibility consists of using an announcement device to inform thecalling terminal device ME, as part of establishing a connection or asession that the mobile terminal device ME is not located in its localradio area HFB. In addition, the communication request or callingterminal device can be notified of the address or telephone number ofthe mobile wireless network MN in which the mobile terminal device ME islocated.

In a further possibility, the communication request or initiatedestablishment of a connection or session with the address or telephonenumber of the mobile terminal device ME in the mobile wireless networkMN is directed to the mobile terminal device ME, shown in FIG. 2 asdotted lines marked KV. In this way, roaming or forwarding of thecommunication request KV from one radio area FB to another radio area FBin the mobile wireless network MN can be avoided. Furthermore, by usinginternal company addresses or telephone numbers on the mobile wirelessnetwork MN, lower rates for forwarding the established connection to amobile terminal device ME MN can be achieved.

It is also possible to retrofit mobile terminal devices ME that arealready in use. For example, by means of an application A written in theobject-oriented programming language JAVA in the mobile terminal deviceME, the functions according to the invention, such as reporting the homelocation in the local radio area HFB and notifying the server S using aRegister Request Message RRM, can be performed.

For example, a suitable data or service channel can also be establishedusing GRPS or SMS, depending on the terminal device's performancecapabilities. In this way, the invention's use is not limited toparticular terminal devices such as mobile telephones, but rather canalso be applied to configurations with wireless terminal devices orfixed network terminal devices in which a local area can be defined, anddifferent handling of communication requests is possible depending uponthe terminal device's location inside or outside of the local area.

1-10. (canceled)
 11. A method for switching communication links to amobile terminal device that is allocated to a local radio area networkcomprising: a first mobile terminal device determining whether themobile terminal device is in a local radio area of a network to whichthe first mobile terminal device is allocated or in another radio areathat is not within the local radio area; the first mobile terminaldevice signaling to an application of the network the determined radioarea of the first mobile terminal device; via an application of thenetwork, controlling directly on the local radio area of the network acommunication request addressed by another network to the first mobileterminal device when the first mobile terminal device is determined tobe in the local radio area; and when the first mobile terminal device isnot in the local radio area of the network, performing one of:forwarding the communication request addressed by the other network tothe first mobile terminal device via the application of the networkdirectly with an address of the determined radio area of the firstmobile terminal device, forwarding the communication request addressedby the other network to the first mobile terminal device via theapplication of the network directly to the determined radio area of thefirst mobile terminal device, and informing the other network thataddressed the communication request that the first mobile terminaldevice is not in the local radio area.
 12. The method of claim 11,wherein the determined radio area of the first mobile terminal device issignaled or transmitted to the application of the network by a networkspecific terminal device protocol and is effected by a register requestmessage having an expanded contact parameter or a register requestmessage having an expanded parameter.
 13. The method of claim 12,wherein the network-specific terminal device protocol is a sessioninitiation protocol (SIP).
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the localradio area is a radio cell of a wireless network or a mobile radionetwork and the network address of an allocated fixed-line network isallocated to the local radio area for the first mobile terminal device.15. The method of claim 11, wherein when the first mobile terminaldevice is within the local radio area and the communication request isfrom a fixed line network, and wherein the communication request isforwarded to the mobile terminal device via a network address allocatedto the local radio area.
 16. The method of claim 11, wherein the firstmobile terminal device determines whether the first mobile terminaldevice is in the local radio area or another radio area by determiningan identifier of the radio area in which the first mobile terminaldevice is located and comparing that identifier to a stored identifier.17. A method for transmitting information relating to communicationlinks for a mobile terminal device assigned to a first local radio areaof a network, the mobile terminal device having a first address forcommunications when in the first local radio area, the methodcomprising: the mobile terminal device determining that the mobileterminal device is located in a second radio area and is no longer inthe first local radio area, the determination made by the mobileterminal device being based upon a comparison of a recognition signal tobe received by the mobile terminal device when the mobile terminaldevice is in the first local radio area of the network with arecognition signal received when the mobile terminal device is locatedin the second radio area; signaling the determined second radio area bythe mobile terminal device to an application on the network, thesignaling comprising the mobile terminal device transmitting anindication that the mobile terminal device is no longer in the firstradio area to the application via a network-specific terminal deviceprotocol; and through the application, directing a communication requestaddressed to the mobile terminal device to the mobile terminal devicefor communications with the mobile terminal device by use of a secondaddress when the mobile terminal device is in the second radio area. 18.The method of claim 17, wherein the signaling of the determined secondradio area occurs by a transmission path that is comprised of a datachannel or a service data channel.
 19. The method of claim 17, furthercomprising assigning a network address of an assigned fixed network tothe mobile terminal device by the first local radio area as the firstaddress, wherein the first local radio area is a member of the groupconsisting of a radio zone in a wireless network and a mobile wirelessnetwork.
 20. The method of claim 17, comprising, in the mobile terminaldevice, assigning the recognition signal for the first local radio areato an application, wherein the application being run by the mobileterminal device, the application of the mobile terminal deviceidentifying the recognition signal for the second radio area andperforming the comparison of the recognition signal received by themobile terminal device when the mobile terminal device is in the firstlocal radio area of the network with the recognition signal receivedwhen the mobile terminal device is located in the second radio area,wherein the recognition signal received by the mobile terminal devicewhen the mobile terminal device is in the first local radio area isrepresented by at least one recognition signal for one or more radiobase stations included in the first local radio area.
 21. The method ofclaim 17, wherein the network-specific terminal device protocol being astandardized Session Initiation Protocol and the mobile terminal deviceis a member of the group consisting of a telephone terminal device, amobile multimedia terminal device, and a mobile terminal device in afixed network.
 22. The method of claim 17, wherein the second address isassociated with the mobile terminal device for when the mobile terminaldevice is in the second radio area.
 23. The method of claim 22, furthercomprising the application routing a communication link between acalling terminal device and the mobile terminal device via the secondaddress to establish a connection between the mobile terminal device andthe calling terminal device.
 24. The method of claim 23, wherein theapplication on the network is an application run on a server of thenetwork.
 25. The method of claim 22 further comprising routing acommunication link between the calling terminal device and the mobileterminal device via the second address to establish a connection betweenthe mobile terminal device and a calling terminal device, the secondaddress being a telephone number of the mobile terminal device.
 26. Themethod of claim 17, wherein the signaling of the determined second radioarea by the mobile terminal device is effected by the mobile terminaldevice sending a message to the application of the network, the messagebeing a member of a group consisting of: (i) a Register Request Messagecontaining an expanded contact parameter indicating that the mobileterminal device is located in the second radio area, the expandedcontact parameter also comprising the second address of the mobilecommunication device, and (ii) a Register Request Message containing anexpanded parameter indicating that the mobile terminal device is notlocated in the first radio area.
 27. A communication request systemcomprising: a first application in a mobile terminal device foridentifying the mobile terminal device's location in a first local radioarea of a first network to which the mobile terminal device is assignedor a second radio area, the mobile terminal device having a firstaddress for being reached when located in the first local radio area anda second address that is different than the first address forcommunications when in the second radio area; upon a determination thatthe mobile terminal device is in the second radio area based upon acomparison of a recognition signal to be received by the mobile terminaldevice when the mobile terminal device is in the first local radio areawith a recognition signal received by the mobile terminal device whenthe mobile terminal device is in the second radio area, the mobileterminal device signaling the identified second radio area to a secondapplication on the first network, the signaling comprising the mobileterminal transmitting an indication that the mobile terminal device isno longer in the first radio area to the second application via anetwork-specific terminal device protocol.
 28. The system of claim 27,wherein the signaling is effected by a member of a group consisting of:(i) a Register Request Message containing an expanded contact parameterindicating that the mobile terminal device is located in the secondradio area, the expanded contact parameter also comprising the secondaddress of the mobile communication device, and (ii) a Register RequestMessage containing an expanded parameter indicating that the mobileterminal device is no longer located in the first radio area.
 29. Thesystem of claim 27, wherein the second address is a phone number forcontacting the mobile terminal device when the mobile terminal device isin the second radio area of a mobile wireless network and is no longerin the first radio area of the first network, and the network-specificterminal device protocol is a standardized Session Initiation Protocol.30. The system of claim 27, wherein the second application is run on aserver of the first network.